Air Charter Safety people have pontificated a lot on this accident. Was it the dry ice that melted and made carbon dioxide? Was it the valve as this lawsuit claims? Either way our guess is that blaming the valve will be a stretch. But as in many aviation lawsuits, even the poor guy making the tires takes the rap, even though wheels were never implicated in the accident. The thing that Learjet really has going for them is that there appears to be no "known" / prior condition with the valves that would indicate negligence on the manufacturer's part.

This story is interesting in that it would appear the predatory instincts of the trial lawyers are going after the deep pockets at Bombardier rather than the long since gone air carrier who folded up shop shortly after the accident. The FAA authority that allowed the carrier to operate is gone, and methodical review of the facts would probably implicate a recognition and procedural training issue, long before you could pin down a manufacturer for a 20 year old aircraft.

This post was made by Adam Webster who has been assaulted on more than one occasion for his forthright banter about the known safety issues in Part 135.